This is a highly simplistic way of thinking though, this proves nothing. This was the very "proof" that Wii fans used to show beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Wii would outsell the PS2 without problems and that it was easily headed for more than 50% marketshare. Aligning launches and comparing handhelds, generations, prices and software informs us of very little, so the users who are suggesting the Wii U pulling a 3DS are even more presumptuous in their assertion.

I agree with what you said above though, trying to promote 3D Mario as a bigger system seller than 2D Mario is just another excuse for the low sales and extreme decline (the Nintendo crowd are starting to sound like their nemesis, the Sony fan, when they were going on about "just wait for game X or Y"). By going back a few months, you'll note that the Wii U's launch line-up was praised and hailed as terrific, it was even dubbed the "best launch line-up ever" and would surely work wonders. Sales plummet, launch line-up was suddenly shit and Wii U has no games and no system sellers (except the second biggest one currently on Nintendo platforms overall). Did the 360, PS3 or even the Wii get a slew of awesome titles in their first months? Hell no, very few consoles do, yet they managed to sell a lot better than the Wii U. Its not a software problem, its the aim of the hardware.

Then there are those who blame the economy. Despite the DS setting records, movies grossing more than ever before, games grossing more than ever before, the 7th gen is a whole lot bigger than the 6th gen in both hardware and software, and smartphones and tablets selling like never before, same goes for costly TV's and stereo, people are still spending but they have diverted their funds elsewhere and gone to other markets (greener pastures and all that).

The Wii U is aiming at two markets and missing both, like I've been saying all along. The Vita is in the same position, it is attempting to reach both handheld gamers and home console fans, not a very good blend, the console lacks focus and direction. Besides, multimedia devices such as smartphones and tablets are eating up the market the handhelds used to occupy and own and the room for growth is gone and dedicated handheld devices will likely disappear within a few years.

Bold: 2D Mario is a system seller for the "casual" crowd, who won't flock to a $300-$350 console. The rest of Wii U's quality titles could be found on the PS3/360, often much earlier. The launch lineup was a quality one, but it certainly wasn't a system selling one. Compare it to the Wii, which got a casual killer app in Wii Sports and a core killer app in Twilight Princess. The Wii U has a grand total of ONE big name exclusive so far, which is aimed at an audience out of the console's price range. Software is its problem.

Italic: The 3DS's strong performance contradicts this argument.

The Vita guys keep talking about all the great games coming but never mention what games are those. So far, I see Killzone as the only one even remotely close to a system-seller. Other than that, it's mostly games already available on PS3 or niche titles. Wii U has Zelda going for it, and that's more than enough to make it overcome Vita. Show me a Vita-exclusive God of War, Gran Turismo and/or Metal Gear Solid and then we'll be able to talk.

And I really do hope those games come to Vita. I really want to buy one later this year, and a GT and MGS would go a long way in convincing me to.

Darth : We talk about what could help sales so : Phantasy Star online 2, Senran Kagury, Tales of Heart R, , Toukiden, God Eater 2 and Soul Sacrifice which could be useful.

In the world : Ys Celceta, SOul Sacrifice, Killzone, Tear Away are not just niche titles, some are original, ambitious and unique  title like Soul Sacrifice and Tear Away but they just need good ads. So there is more things coming on Vita.

And there is more coming, we're still waiting for the announcement of Sony Bend game, Gravity Rush 2 and an exclusive spin off of a famous western game.

Wii U have no real new Zelda, its just a remake, the real new zelda will come in 2-3 years i assume. ( takes time to make a good zelda ) , the only games with release date which are exclusive and could help are Lego City and...Thats all, all the others have no release date and could even come in 2014, like Luigi Mansion 3DS postponed many times. ( but they said there will be a mario kart at the end of the year )

Wait a minute, are you saying that 3rd party hits available for other consoles never helped the Wii U while claiming that a Gamecube game that was held back and released on GC and Wii was a massive system seller, bigger than NSMB? 2D Mario is the epitome of nostalgia, it appeals greatly to old gamers like myself, a lot more so than a 3D Mario or a modern Zelda ever will. I also enjoy your theory that "casuals" won't spend 300-350$ on hardware when they're going bananas over phones and tablets that cost around twice that amount, and certainly a lot more than 300-350$. Casuals are still spending a heap of money, a lot more than ever before but they're spending it elsewhere, like I said. You're using the incredibly faulty and well dismantled "economy is bad" argument, like a reverse Wii bingo. The PS3 had a bunch of shared sports games at launch and the biggest exclusive title it had managed a whooping 1.3 million, it was Ridge Racer 7... It had CoD 3, which even sold more on the Wii (about 800k more) as a core carrot to draw sales and the thing cost 600$ at launch, yet it managed a better january and february than the Wii U, even without a presence at all in Europe yet.

The Wii U is designed completely wrong, it has no broad appeal to neither casuals nor core gamers. Games cannot atone for this, the controller will still be a bad idea, storage will be lackluster, services won't beat the competition and 3rd parties still won't care and shower it with support.

The 3DS' strong performance is already headed downwards (and its starting to lag behind the DS, much like the Wii started lagging behind the PS2, only the 3DS has started this decline even sooner) and it is bound to end up way behind the DS, likely somewhere around 60-70% of the DS' total lifetime sales, meanwhile, the Vita will contribute absolutely nothing to the handheld markets sustainability. Let's not forget that the PSP and DS have accounted for over 230 million sales thus far, something Vita/3DS will never get close to (in fact; it will likely end up around half total or even less), there is nothing to suggest that I am wrong in my theory here, a year or so from now it will be even more obvious. Dedicated handheld devices are going away in the near future. If the equation were as simple as; 3DS selling quite well now = handhelds are guaranteed a bright future, doesn't that mean that; Wii was breaking records right and left = it easily outsold the PS2 and has about 150-160 million sales now? Do you believe that the 3DS will sell over 200 million consoles? Perhaps 210-220 million that it would need in order for the handheld market to grow? No, its shrinking and its shrinking fast. Hardware development cycles are being forced into turbo mode, for portable devices in particular and tablets and phones are taking over fast. The dedicated handheld gaming device is soon a thing of the past, just like traditional home consoles are damn near extinct, they're more about media capability, connectivity and multi-functionality than games at this point, all this to remain competitive, the handheld is going the same way and Nintendo and Sony aren't keeping up, not even close. I think it was superchunk, the astute member in here, who said that Vita should have been a phone, even before the thing was released. Guess what? He was completely right.

Its not that simple. One more thing, before the accusation arrives, I'm not an advocate for smartphones and tablets and certainly not their "games" (in fact; I abhorr everything they stand for), but they will inevitably take over the casual market and thus a sizeable chunk of customers who could otherwise be swayed into purchasing other things.

Twilight Princess was a system seller for the Wii. The fact that it began as a Gamecube game, and later came to that system didn't change that, people wanted to play a (relatively) dark epic Zelda, and they wanted to play it with the hyped new system with its hyped new controls. (And after waiting so long for the game, people didn't want to wait even longer for the late GCN version) And NSMBWii's nostalgia factor for the core is overestimated, its not that similar to older games, the core know this by now thanks to NSMBWii and NSMB2. It's main draw is the casual crowd, and being willing to spend upwards of $300 on a conole and spending a similar amount on a tablet are two very different things. Also, the PS3 was riding a much bigger hype wave than Wii U.

The dedicated handheld market has shrunk, that's undeniable, but they're not on the brink of extinction. People are still willing to fork out the cash for the  handheld that plays Nintendo games, and there's a whole segment of the audience that aren't satisfied with the kinds of games that phones bring to the table.

If Wii U already outsells it with zero games released essentailly since November, what makes you think Vita will manage to outsell it when it actually has games released for it, not to mention some potential hits?

The only reason Wii U outsold Vita these last month, its because Wii U was in launch period  with THE game : New Super Mario bros ( the best system seller of Nintendo, but didnt sell a lot of Wii U though ).

Now, Wii U sales are slowly decreasing and they are almost at the vita sales level.

So, with the price cut + famous japanese games ( tales of heart R, Phantasy Star Online 2, Senra kagura and maybe Soul Sacrifice and after Toukiden + God eater 2 + Sen No Kiseki,etc. ( dont care if they are also on PSP, theyre much much better on Vita, its like buy a PS3 game over a PS2 game )), i let you guess which console will outsell the other for the months coming.

Okay, wow. Where do I even start.

The "AAA" games you claim that are coming to Vita are remakes, rehashes, and non-exclusives. These games are from series like Dead or Alive, Sly Cooper (recently came out IIRC), Killzone, and Ninja Gaiden (just to name a few that aren't apart of the shovelware that's coming). Out of all those games, which will push more Vita systems? None. That's just the truth. It's literally what is happening to Wii U currently. Since the games have been or are, available on prexisting consoles, people don't care that those games are going to the newer console UNLESS they don't have the prexisting console (which is highly unlikely and the reason why Vita sales and Wii U sales are currently on the same boat).

Next, price cuts don't equal better sales so, let's just stop trying to push that ideal right now. Price cuts aren't an amazing miracle to console sales because it depends on what games and bundles are coming plus what time of year this price cut and it's advertisements happen (in Vita's case, this isn't the best time of year since no one is interested in buying hardware during Q1 since it's right after the holidays).

"The big Wii U games may not even come this year, and even if they do come out on Christmas, they'll be crushed by the release of PS4 and X720."

Just, please, in the future, try to re-read what you're typing because it really comes off as a Vita/Sony fanboy who is just hurt the Vita is doing bad and just wants Wii U to sink aswell. Let's try to stick to common knowledge and facts too, okay? Thank you! 

What are you talking about? We always mention these games, as it's a great lineup! Soul Sacrifice and Killzone are the closest things to system sellers, but we all know that a great game often isn't a system seller, just like system sellers sometimes aren't great games. And games that come to Vita look great. Also, you seem not to know much about the Vita games or the situation Vita is in, but that doesn't seem to stop you from making judgements. 1 - Most of Vita games that are coming are exclusives and aren't available on PS3, just a few of them are. 2 - Niche Japanese games is exactly what Vita needs now to replace the PSP in Japan. It need a system seller and as many niche Japanese games as it can get.

And to repeat the main point. These are very good or great games, even if not system sellers. Wii U is getting no games. What is better? What is more likely to sell more hardware?